DHS Memo Discussing Back-Door Amnesty Uncovered

The rumor swirling around the Beltway is that once again the President is poised to go against the will of the American people, this time on Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants. All polls show that American citizens want the government find a way protect the US borders before dealing with the illegal immigrants already in the country.

This time according to the scuttlebutt, unlike the health care bill, Obama does not have the Congressional votes to shove his policy down the throats of America, so he will go around Congress and the American people and issue an executive order granting amnesty to the 12 million potential Democratic Party Voters Illegal Immigrants in the United States.

Since the beginning of the summer there have been two different memos leaked from two different administration departments indicating the the president is looking to grant amnesty via executive order, American Spectator got a hold of a third one yesterday.

The rumor got so fierce that in June Senator Grassley and Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.; David Vitter, R-La.; Jim Bunning, R-Ky.; James Inhofe, R-Okla.; Thad Cochran, R-Miss.; and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., sent a letter to the President saying:

We understand that there’s a push for your Administration to develop a plan to unilaterally extend either deferred action or parole to millions of illegal aliens in the United States. We understand that the Administration may include aliens who have willfully overstayed their visas or filed for benefits knowing that they will not be eligible for a status for years to come. We understand that deferred action and parole are discretionary actions reserved for individual cases that present unusual, emergent or humanitarian circumstances. Deferred action and parole were not intended to be used to confer a status or offer protection to large groups of illegal aliens, even if the agency claims that they look at each case on a “case-by-case” basis.

While we agree our immigration laws need to be fixed, we are deeply concerned about the potential expansion of deferred action or parole for a large illegal alien population. While deferred action and parole are Executive Branch authorities, they should not be used to circumvent Congress’ constitutional authority to legislate immigration policy, particularly as it relates to the illegal population in the United States.

 Their fears were confirmed when Senator Grassley got hold of a memo from the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) outlining all different way the government could legalize at illegal immigrants even if Congress fails to enact amnesty. Some would be granted resident status with the USCIS simply giving them green cards. Others would be allowed to evade deportation, possibly indefinitely.

Yesterday American Spectator got a hold of a memo from the Department of Homeland Security that reached the desk of Secretary Janet Napolitano that is similar to the USCIS memo except that it pays more attention to the political ramifications. '

 The idea is that the first phase of a program to legalize illegal immigrants could be implemented by DHS even in the absence of "comprehensive immigration reform." Or, as the memo puts it, by "using administrative measures to sidestep the current state of Congressional gridlock and inertia." 

The memo emphasizes registering, fingerprinting, and screening the illegal immigrant population ("excluding individuals who pose a security risk") but the administrative processes envisioned involve giving eligible illegal immigrants work permits and an interim process to "legalize those who qualify and intend to stay here." The memo does acknowledge Congress would have to act to extend permanent lawful residence.

"If going forward with a larger registration program is not possible," the document obtained by TAS says, "we could propose a narrowly-tailored registration program for individuals eligible for relief under the DREAM Act, AgJOBS, or other specifically designed subcategories." The DREAM Act and AgJOBS are pieces of legislation -- targeted amnesties -- that Congress has not voted to pass.

As far as the DREAM Act, Harry Reid has already offered it into the defense bill that will be voted on next week.

Whats most frightening about the latest revelation is that rather than it being a totally separate memo, it seems as if the Department of Homeland Security version is the USCIS memo taken to the next step. According to Fox News, DHS says it was just a memo for discussion and does not represent actual policy. Problem is, based on the memos, this "policy" seems to be getting serious.